The present invention relates generally to tents and sunshelters and in particular to collapsible portable tents, mosquito nets and sunshelters.
Sun shelters and tents are becoming increasingly popular. One of the reasons for this popularity is the increasing awareness by the public of the detrimental effects of the sunshine particularly, the increasing risk and incidence of skin cancer.
Warmer climates also create the need for an additional cover over a tent to prevent the tremendous buildup of heat that can occur from the sun shining directly on the surface of the tent walls and top.
Collapsible tents are available in numerous designs. Tents with rigidly constructed supports are known; some even include covers for the prevention of condensation on the tent walls. These covers also could serve to prevent the sun from shining directly on the tent. A disadvantage of the condensation prevention covers is that they are specifically designed for preventing condensation from reaching the surface walls of the tent. The color, density and type of fabric used may not be optimal for preventing heat build up from the sun.
Another cause of heat build up within the tent is the totally enclosed design of many tents. The walls, roof and floor of a tent form a sealed interior that does not provide any air circulation within the tent. An example is U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,278 where the floor and walls are substantially a solid membrane and the tent support loops meet at a single apex point. Doors or windows may be available in the tent, but these are often small and provide minimal circulation of air that will dissipate the heat build up within the tent.
With the substantial increase in outdoor activities such as camping, many campers utilize tents as temporary shelter or protection from the sun. Conventional tents typically include a weather resistant flexible membrane, which is supported by polls and anchored to the ground by rope lines. A major problem with conventional tents is the complexity of erecting and collapsing them. To erect a tent, a user must first unfold and lay out the tent membrane on the ground, plant anchoring points for the tent on the ground, attach anchoring ropes to the anchor points, plant a support pole on the ground to support the apex of the tent, lift the tent membrane off the ground and place its apex on the support poll, and restrain the tent membrane by adjusting the tension of the rope lines. In collapsing the tent, the user must disassemble the anchors and the rope lines, fold the tent and fit the membrane, the rope lines and the support pole in a carrying case.
To overcome the disadvantages of such conventional tents, some tent manufacturers have provided collapsible tents with resilient supports embedded in the tent membrane to alleviate the need for a support pole and anchoring rope lines. Such collapsible tents can be folded and placed in a case for transport.
However, a disadvantage of such tents is that the resilient supports consist of several separate support members which in most cases a user must carefully attach to another at several points in order to define the structure of the tent. As such, the user must spend time learning how to attach the tent members together and attach and detach the members every time the tent is erected. Further, the use of many tent members increases the cost of manufacturing, purchase and maintenance of the tent over the lifetime of the tent. Yet another disadvantage of such tents is difficulty of collapsing the tents into a small assembly. The base of the tent adds even more bulk and additional steps of folding. Typically, the user must twist and turn the resilient supports to fold them. This action requires substantial expenditure of time and energy, as the resilient supports are usually quite stiff in order to maintain the structural integrity of the tent.
Various forms of sunshades and sun protectors are also available. Sunshades include umbrellas, canopies and folded corrugated cardboard. Most of these are slightly collapsible from their fully unfolded arrangement. The present designs still are bulky or heavy, even when in a folded condition. None of the existing devices combine a collapsible tent or shelter that also includes a collapsible hat cover.
Therefore, because of the deficiencies in each of the presently available tent and sun protector products, there is a need for a collapsible tent that also includes a collapsible hat with an open bottom for air circulation to prevent heat build up. The collapsible tent should be self-erecting without the need for assembly. The collapsible tent also needs to be lightweight and coil into a small configuration for storage and transport.